Law Professor Publishes Innovative Civil Procedure Text for All States, Is Honored by University for Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship

Twice a year, Regent University honors a professor who has excelled in teaching, service, or scholarship. School of Law professor Benjamin Madison recently received the “Award for Scholarship” for his excellence in research and publications.

Of the scholarship Madison has published in various law reviews and journals in the last few years, Civil Procedure for All States: A Context and Practice Casebook is a highlight. Civil Procedure is one of twenty-five books in Carolina Academic Press’s Context and Practice Casebook Series, an innovative series among textbooks designed for law students.

The series’ editor, a nationally known teaching and learning scholar, believes that students excel when given a chance to improve their self-directed learning skills in context-based instruction. And so, rather than relying heavily on cases, Madison’s text places students in roles as practitioners through simulated law practice problems.

Also unique to the series is an ethical component designed to develop students’ professional identity. A former partner at Hunton & Williams and a successful litigator, Madison is familiar with the ethical pitfalls of his profession.

“In this book, I am asking students to pay attention to their moral compass,” Madison said. “The theory is that if you don’t start paying attention to this compass and instead justify your decisions on the basis of being a zealous advocate or ‘doing all you can’ for your client, even when it’s not right, you’ll start to dislike yourself and your profession.”

Professor Doug Rendleman of Washington and Lee University, an accomplished scholar and textbook author, cites Madison’s casebook as “sophisticated and thorough” and “lucidly written and well designed.” Rendleman also complimented Madison as “a rising teacher and scholar of Civil Procedure.”

Civil Procedure for All States: A Context and Practice Casebook will be available in the summer of 2010. Find it here.